Being Dutch* it's such a strange concept that you don't have to pay to bring books to your home. I hope that we will see that over here as well in my lifetime. It would do wonders to increase literacy in the population.
They're integral to the fabric of society in my view.
For low-income families and people up to 25 years old this drops to €48 per year.
There aren't libraries in the Netherlands?
Pretty sure Europe is diverse enough that there are countries where the access to public libraries is free.